UNEMPLOYMENT and job mismatch in the Philippines can be addressed by putting skills at the forefront of hiring strategies and changing the education approach, a human capital solutions company said.
A shift in mindset is needed to tackle the skills challenge in the workforce, Viventis Search Asia Executive Director Yu Mung Chin told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of the company’s conference on June 7.
“We used to focus heavily on the role-based type of career matching,” he said. “The transition of that will be very important; on an organizational level, you now need to look at skills rather than tenure.”
“You will see that, in the next 2 to 3 years, the approach will change. There is untapped talent that has relevant skills to fill up skills-based jobs, so the ability to unearth that becomes important,” he added.
He also said that micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Philippines are in a better position to take on a skills-based approach than big companies, which are more weighed down by years of tradition.
In 2022, the Philippine Labor department pointed out how important MSMEs are in “driving growth, employment generation, and creating income opportunities for workers.”
Mr. Chin noted that the ability of a country to ensure gainful employment in a very proactive and forceful way — by promoting productive use of skills and talent — is very important.
He said that the key to addressing the skills challenge lies in three main aspects: attracting talent with the right skills for specific jobs, investing in talent development through reskilling and upskilling initiatives, and utilizing appropriate career technology to enable the acquisition and application of skills.
These three pillars play a crucial role in creating meaningful career opportunities for individuals in the workforce, Mr. Chin said.
Deloitte’s 2022 Analysis of Skills-Based Organization survey found that organizations that adopt a skills-based approach are 63% more likely to achieve results than those who have not.
Viventis Search Asia’s partnership with skills intelligence platform iMocha gives businesses across all industries access to skills-first practices.
iMocha’s skills intelligence cloud is equipped with job role listings in various departments and skills mapped for each role, plus skill profiles of all employees to help determine their next path or role.
“A skills intelligence cloud, which uses a multi-channel approach through AI to regularly update an employee’s skill profile, lets us move beyond just skills assessment,” said Amit Mishra, co-founder and chief executive officer of iMocha, at the conference.
The strategies and technologies aimed at talent attraction and management are now accessible to the Southeast Asian market. — Brontë H. Lacsamana